Not Your Typical "Family Weekend"

Family Weekend (2013)

Rated R for language

Starring Olesya Rulin, Kristen Chenoweth, Matthew Modine, Shirley Jones,

Directed byBenjamin Epps

The Story:

Emily (Rulin) is a jump-roping machine.  She leaves notes reminding her family of the very important meet.  Nobody shows.  Not her mom (Chenoweth), dad (Modine) or siblings.  She tells her tale of woe to her grandmother (Jones) but the fracturing of this family has been a long time coming.  Emily decides that with the Finals just days away, she's going to put together a drastic plan to put her family back together in time for her to compete.  It won't be an easy task.

Stop me if you've heard this before, but this would have been the PERFECT film for the whole family, but they decided to throw in some unneeded profanity and sex talk to score an R rating.  You would think a movie that is trying to show how to get a family back together would attempt to score the broadest audience possible and go PG/PG-13.

I'll just shake my head and wonder why.

Rulin owns the film, as nearly the entire production is on her shoulders.  She's intense, fun, determined, and heartbroken, often at the same time.

Chenoweth and Modine are great as the parents who have come to terms with the fact that their lives aren't what they once were, and neither appears very anxious to reclaim their love for one another.

However, when your daughter takes the family captive, it's surprising how things change rather quickly.

I would liken this one to The Ref.  Another great movie, but one not to bring the kids to.

I still say they missed the boat with the broader audience, but that's an argument I'll likely never win with Hollywood.

Available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: Solid B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Take the language down a notch, this would have likely been a B+/A- affair and one that I would have added to the library.  Sadly, it'll have to be relegated to "maybe in a few years" for another viewing.